Northern Ireland wildfires: Rain brings relief to 350 exhausted firefighters after saving rare bird
Rain has brought relief to over 350 exhausted firefighters who spent last week battling wildfires across Northern Ireland - but only after they saved the nest of a critically endangered bird.
Over 350 firefighters have been deployed to "devastating" major wildfires across 6,200 acres of Northern Ireland last week.
Four Stormont ministers issued an unusual joint statement to condemn the "unsustainable" waste of public resources, damage to the environment and risk to property and life in what are often considered to have been arson attacks.
On Saturday two weeks ago, fires broke out across the Mourne Mountains. Last week saw further fires sprung up in the Mournes, Dungiven and Crossmaglen.
On Thursday evening a major blaze was reported in Brookeborough in Co Fermanagh.
Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service Group Commander Danny Ard said that, thankfully, the wildfires petered out over the weekend.
"Actually, the wee bit of rain that has come in has dampened it right down,” he told the News Letter on Sunday.
"So our last real wildfire of significance would have been Friday evening in Moneyscalp Wood in the Mournes.”
The blaze took five appliances, two water tankers and 40 firefighters tackling an 800m fire front until 3am.
The wildfires over the past week caused no recorded injuries to firefighters or civilians – but it has been an exceptionally physically draining week for firefighters.
The biggest strains during such a week are the long hours taken to fight each fire and the difficulty in accessing the blaze, he said.
“Many of these fires and locations where you just can't get traditional vehicles. So there's a lot of time spent hiking with heavy equipment.
"So it would be more physically demanding over a longer period of time.
"And indeed, a lot of extinguishing methods are manual, using beater on the flames, so there is quite a significant physical input."
"And then you are getting hit with the sun throughout. So we're very cognizant of firefighters’ welfare, and we put a lot of provision in place for water and sun cream and food.”
On Friday, 85 Firefighters tackled the wildfire in Brookeborough. During the incident firefighters discovered a curlew nest with eggs directly in the fire's path.
"Showing exceptional care and attention in extremely challenging conditions, crews worked carefully to protect the nest whilst continuing to fight the fire,” NIFRS said on social media.
There are only 150 breeding pairs of the critically endangered bird left in NI.
"Please act responsibly when out in the countryside to prevent these fires from starting in the first place,” the service added.
In order to spread the strain over a “wildfire week” office based staff will be rotated onto the front line, Mr Ard said.
The recuperation this week will be particularly welcome for members of the “wildfire teams” who cover the entirety of the province.
This also applies to specialist staff whose job is to carefully create a line of fire ahead of the wildfire in order to deprive it of fuel.
There is a lawful time for permitted burning of gorse by farmers in April, but this has long passed, he said.
Quite a bit of carefully managed burning of gorse by farmers takes place in that window, he says.